Now this is actually six different kinds of awesome right here, folks–now, you all probably remember the last time we brought up the idea of the breathalyzer, how it connected to your steering column and wouldn’t let you drive unless you blew a clean meter?

Well, this one isn’t quite so restrictive, but it IS a lot more portable.  It’s the Breathalyzer Keychain, and it is pretty much what it sounds like it is, a Breathalyzer on a key chain.  You know we love our key chains out here at Car Buyer’s Notebook, so this is definitely one we had to discuss.

You can actually TRACK your progression throughout the night, seeing what makes you drunker as you go, or trying to see how many pretzels it takes to drop your blood alcohol content.  I look for something like this to become the focus of dozens of bar contests as people bet on who’s drunker, or what somebody’s blood alcohol content is.

Best off, they’re not too pricey, either.  You can get one of these for as little as fifteen bucks.

Tags: alcohol, bar bet, blood alcohol content, drunk drivier, drunk driving, key chain

We’ve all been there at one time or another, out for an evening, and we’ve had a couple, and it’s not exactly easy to tell if you’re sufficiently blasted to call a cab or you can get your car home without too much trouble.  And frankly, it never helps that the cops have breathalyzers and such–because they can KNOW while you’re left to merely guess.

Now you can improve your guesses with the AlcoHawk portable breathalyzer.  It has a folding mouthpiece and an easy to read LED screen that tells you, just as surely as it tells the cops, just how much alcohol is in your system at any given time.

It’ll detect any range between nothing at all and .40, which is actually where you need to be in order to DIE FROM ALCOHOL POISONING, (the range, depending on tolerance, is actually about .37 to .50) so you know it’ll handle the complete range.

I personally like this idea, myself…if drunk drivers can keep themselves off the road, then that’s a whole lot fewer accidents.

Tags: AlcoHawk, AlcoHawk portable breathalyzer, drunk, drunk drivers, drunk driving

The other day, I was thinking about a scene in the film Live Free or Die Hard, where Justin Long tricks an OnStar navigation system to starting a car so he an steal…commandeer it. It’s nice to know that OnStar can be used to disable a carjacker, which was what happened to a Chevy Tahoe in California the other day. I honestly didn’t know OnStar could do that. For some reason, OnStar doesn’t seem to advertise this.

Source

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Okay, this is too good. Apparently, it has been discovered that many of the vehicle registration stickers and inspections stickers in New York just aren’t staying stuck.

Feel free to use this blog posting to explain this to your officer. Hopefully, the officer will let you off with a warning and you can immediately go to get your stickers replaced, free of charge. That, or follow the instructions here.

That, or you could just use some transparent adhesive tape, which a lot of New Yorkers are already using as a fix.

Source

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If recent reports are to be believed we may be seeing a police cruiser based on the late and great Pontiac G8 get unveiled at some point on Monday, October 5th. Make note that back in April we told you that GM would be killing off the Pontiac brand by 2011 but perhaps one of its models will live on.

The reason we point to Monday as its assumed release is because that is when the International Association of Chiefs of Police convention will go down in Denver, CO.

Of course, GM hasn’t actually said that this new cop car would be based on the G8 so until they do we will stamp this as a rumor.

via autoblog

Tags: cop car, g8, international association of chiefs of police, Police, Pontiac, rumor

In the United States, most people (if they’re smart) generally use their seatbelt because they know the consequences if an accident were to happen and they weren’t wearing it. However, it seems that this is not the case in the United Arab Emirates as there is a dangerously low rate of seat belt usage. Luckily, the government has a plan called the Salama Road Safety Public Awareness Initiative that will introduce things such as fashionable seatbelts.

When I say fashionable seat belts I mean normal seat belts with things like sports team brandings, a variety of different flags and even Gucci. The UAE gov’t hopes that by introducing these fashionable seat belts they will be able to increase the usage rate by more than 11%.

via luxist

Tags: fashion, safety, salama road safety public awareness initiative, seatbelts, uae, united arab emirates

Texting while driving isn’t safe, we that. We’ve seen studies, we’ve seen new laws go into place, we’ve seen it all, don’t text while driving, simple, right? It seems that drivers in Wales aren’t getting the memo which has caused the Gwent Police department to compile a PSA video to show people just how destructive texting while driving can be.

We’ve included the video for you to view after the break but be warned, it’s very graphic.

via gizmodo

continue reading "Wales police department shows you what happens when you text while driving"

Tags: gwent police department, police department, psa, safety, wales

We all know that authorities have a certain device to check if drivers are drunk or intoxicated. But while that has been a familiar sight, no device has been made especially for drug testing until today. Thanks to Philips, cops can apprehend drug using individuals with a device that can really be a big boost towards curbing the growing problems of drug addicts.

The device makes uses nanotechnology. Instead of blowing like what a person would do in an alcohol test, you are asked to spit. After 90 seconds it gives a color coded read out. It will detect any cocaine, heroin, cannabis, amphetamines and methaphetamine.

These Philips Roadside Drug Test devices are set to hit the Europe market by the end of the year. No word though on when the U.S. would get their hand on them for now.

(Source) Geekologie

Tags: alcohol test, amphetamines, authorities, cocaine, cops, drug addicts, drug testing, Europe, heroin, philips, roadside drug test, test device, test devices

The New York Police Department will be modifying 58 of their 35 mpg Nissan Altima hybrid vehicles. The reason behind this is because officers are complaining that when they get out of their seat, their gun handles press “painfully into their hips”.

The move will be costing around $1,100 USD of tax payer’s money per vehicle to make the change, according to Albert Becker, a deputy inspector and executive officer of the department’s support services,bringing the total to a whopping $63,800 USD.

“There have been no documented instances, no emergency situations, in which they [officers] got stuck,” said Inspector Becker.

via New York Times

Tags: hybrids, new york city, nissan altima

Here we go again, another story of a teenager crashing a car because they can’t handle its power. This time the victim is a ‘69 Chevy Camaro that was crashed after a man’s 17 year old son decided to take the car for a joyride. Of course, he just had to pull a burnout on a street and upon hitting third gear found himself in a neighbor’s lawn.

The kid’s consequences include a wreckless driving ticket and his insurance company dropping him off the plan. Of course, I’m sure that doesn’t even compare to what his dad’s going to give him considering there were $30,000 worth of damages.

via Jalopnik

Tags: 1969, burn out, camaro, classic, crash, Insurance, muscle car, teenager, ticket, wreckless driving

Here’s something that is ridiculously obvious but still needed some official study to make it official: Texting while driving will increase the likeliness that you will get into a crash.

This study comes to us from the Virgina Tech Transportation Institute that suggests texting while driving will increase your chance of crashing by 23x. To put this into perspective, the NHTSA says that driving while on the phone or with a .08 blood-alcohol level only increases your chance of a crash by 4x.

This really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone as when you’re texting your eyes are situated on the handset rather than the road for prolonged periods. The bad news is that this will be extremely hard to police as those who text usually keep the phone in their laps or otherwise out of view from those looking into the car.

Read (New York Times)

Tags: Driving, nhtsa, safety hazard, study, Texting, virgina tech transportation institute

What are police departments in the UK supposed to do when they have some extra cash left over in their budget? Well, update their fleet, of course!

That’s what one department did in Humberside, at least. And they didn’t just update their fleet with any old car, but instead the $88,000 Lexus IS-F. That’s right, there are now Lexus IS-F police cruisers patrolling the streets of the UK. Below is a quote from said police department:

Humberside Police have taken delivery of a Lexus IS-F in order to make life more difficult than ever for those looking to travel to the region to commit crime.

It looks like it’s going to take a lot more than just an ordinary car to outrun these guys now that they have a bit more horsepower at their disposal.

via Jalopnik

Tags: humberside, IS-F, Lexus, police car, police cruiser

You’ve heard of cow tipping, right? Well, it seems that people in Amsterdam have come up with something a bit more creative; Smart Tipping.

Essentially what this is is when pranksters push a Smart Fortwo straight into a canal. You may ask, how is this possible, but due to the car’s small size and the fact that most of the car’s weight is in the rear, the front end is reportedly extremely easy to lift.

Local police have said they are currently working towards preventing this from spreading. Let’s just hope it doesn’t catch on here in the States.

via AutoBlogGreen

Tags: amsterdam, crime, fortwo, prank, Smart, smart tipping

Sure, it is seemingly unrelated to automobiles in anyway but it was spotted on a street and moved at one point. See? There is a connection.

Anyways, what you see above is a 6-foot Nurse Shark that was found on the streets of Miami. How did it get there? Well it seems 2 homeless men managed to snag the thing out of the water and began dragging it around trying to sell it vendors for as low as $10. Failing to find a buyer, they then proceeded to ditch it in the middle of the street.

So now you’re probably asking yourself why is this on a blog about cars, right? Well, consider it a safety warning as you now have 1 more obstacle to look out for while cruising the streets.

For all of you animal lovers out there (me included) the police are currently searching for the two men.

via Jalopnik

Tags: animal, miami, nurse shark, off topic, safety, Shark, street

One thing about car thieves, they will make all the necessary modifications to stolen cars to avoid being caught. Unfortunately, the robbers who had stolen a 2007 Cadillac Escalade were not so lucky. Originally stolen last February 1, 2008, special agents and the NICB had recovered the said vehicle but this time sporting a new look, a stretched limo look!

Apparently this transformation went under a complicated process. In fact, it was manufactured by a limo company, unsuspecting that the car they are transforming was actually stolen. It eventually landed in the hands of a businessman in Texas which was sold for $125,000. A vehicle identification number actually gave it away.

“Consumers need to exercise sound judgment when buying used vehicles from private parties or online services,” said Joe Wehrle, NICB president and chief executive officer. “In this case an innocent purchaser may be out thousands of dollars as a result of this transaction. So, if in doubt, check it out carefully before you hand over the cash.”

This quote may seem contradicting to the rampant push for online car buying. If this is one of the thing that they will encounter, it will severely affect the business intent of online car sellers for sure.

(Source) Press

Tags: 2007 cadillac escalade, business intent, businessman, Cadillac, car thieves, chief executive officer, doubt, limo company, necessary modifications, nicb, online car sellers, private parties, purchaser, robbers, sound judgment, thousands of dollars, transformation, vehicle identification number, wehrle